Yard poison vandal strikes again, this time in Brewster

A second area property owner has reported amounts of a powdery substance being dumped across their front lawn that has killed grass, shrubs, and trees.

Jamie Balliett

A second area property owner, this time in Brewster, has reported copious amounts of a powdery white substance being dumped across their front lawn, resulting in the loss of grass, multiple shrubs, and even trees.

The second case of vandalism occurred in August at Dwight and Jo Ann Ritter’s home on Foster Road. The first poisoning happened right around the same time at Vicki Goldsmith’s home on Paddock Drive in Harwich.

The even odder part of the story is that this isn’t the first time this has been done to both property owners – they had a similar experience last year.

“Whoever did this has caused more than $10,000 worth of damage and I’d like to find out what kind of a person would do such a hateful thing,” said Dwight Ritter, who has spent 70 years summering in Brewster and lived here full time since 1996. He is a writer and a graphic designer. His wife is an artist.

Ritter said that this year he has lost a 50-foot-tall butternut tree, two large rhododendrons, other bushes, and possibly a red maple tree.

“When you look at the grass you can see the pattern of how it was thrown. It killed everything in its path,” he added.

Police in both towns so far do not have any suspects. Even though the white powdery material was collected from both sites and is very similar, local law enforcement does not have the ability to do a chemical analysis, even at the State Police lab.

“We are looking into it but don’t have much to go on right now,” said Brewster Police Lt. Heath Eldredge. “The material was collected from the Ritters but because we don’t have a way to test it, it was disposed of.”

Eldredge added that while a single case might not have gotten a lot of attention, possibly multiple vandalism incidents across different towns now has the full attention of police investigators.

“We’re concerned about what the connection might be with Harwich and possibly in other towns,” he added.

The police are very interested in hearing from the public if other properties have been targeted.

When reached this week, Vicki Goldsmith of Harwich was hopeful that the public might be able to help solve this mysterious case, especially if they didn’t realize their property was poisoned in the first place.

“There may be others where – on the first occurrence - people thought it was just too weird to report. If they come forward, maybe we can figure out a connection together,” Goldsmith said.

Ritter said that he had spoken at length with officials in the Harwich and Brewster Police Departments and was hopeful they could develop some leads even though he was discouraged that Brewster Police had not been able to find out what the poison was.

But as a backup plan, Ritter has a friend in the chemistry department at Brandeis University and if a sample can be gathered, he was hopeful that the school might be able to do a chemical analysis.

“I’m sure that sample could tell us something. What is this poison? Where is it coming from? Who has access to it? These are all questions that could help solve the case,” he said.

For now, Ritter has been forced to watch some of his prized bushes and trees drop their leaves and turn brown.

“I’m really angry about this thing and somebody knows what happened and we need to find out,” he said.